Mobile computing devices such as “smart” phones (e.g., Apple's iPhone®, Research in Motion's Blackberry®, Google's Droid®), personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), and the like have become ubiquitous tools of modern life. In addition, tablet computers (e.g., Apple's iPad®) and other portable computing devices with a touch screen interface are becoming increasingly available. These developments have occasioned a significant increase in the number of applications being developed to run on such devices.
Applications for planning and scheduling events and tasks are known in the prior art. Some of these applications can be used in connection with mobile computing devices such as those described above. For the most part, prior art planners and calendars rely on a traditional calendar format to display events as text entries in a chronological list. Furthermore, tasks (i.e., things a person must get done, but not at a particular time) and events (i.e., things a person wants or needs to do at a predetermined or scheduled time) are managed, maintained, and displayed separately.
For example, Microsoft's Outlook® application displays events on a traditional calendar in a linear format. Each event is shown in its own rectangular box positioned on relevant portions of the calendar. Conversely, tasks are shown in a list format that can be sorted/arranged based on various criteria (e.g., task name). Thus, using prior art planners and calendars, the user is limited to indicating an event or task in a block or list, in a linear manner.
Further, the prior art planners and calendars rely heavily upon using text (i.e., alphanumeric characters) to represent an event or task to be completed. As a result of the space constraints associated with the user interface (e.g., a screen) of most mobile computing devices, text is an impractical and cumbersome method of conveying information. Often, the amount of text that is required to convey information about an event or task, combined with the small space available, results in the text appearing too small to read. Thus, prior art planners fail to convey necessary information to the user.
Often, an image or symbol can convey a message much more efficiently than text. In addition, images have different meanings to different people. Moreover, the events and tasks any particular person wishes to accomplish are personal to that user. Thus, a need exists for a planner that allows each user to chose and/or create the particular images or symbols that efficiently convey to himself or herself the information he or she needs to schedule or plan events and tasks. Prior art planners fail to meet this need.
Moreover, the prior art planners and calendars fail to provide a mechanism (e.g., a noise and/or rewarding graphic) to signal successful completion of an event or task. As such, the prior art planners and calendars fail to provide the user with a sense of accomplishment upon completion of an event or task and, thus, there is less incentive to use them.
In view of the above, there is an unmet need for systems, methods and apparatuses for planning and scheduling events and tasks that allow a user to indicate an event or task in a freestyle, non-linear, and/or ad hoc manner. There is also an unmet need for systems, methods and apparatuses for planning and scheduling events and tasks that allow a user to indicate an event or task in a non-textual (i.e., graphic or symbolic) manner. There is also an unmet need for systems, methods and apparatuses for planning and scheduling events and tasks that provide a user with a non-textual (e.g., visual, audible) indication that an event or task has been completed. There is also an unmet need for systems, methods and apparatuses for displaying and managing events and tasks together instead of separately.